Day 21 Pforzheim to Schierstein

Raining as I leave the overnight, but predicted not to be heavy nor all day. But the liner goes into the pants for its first European test.

It didn't last long and I went back to summer gear. Started with some typical Schwarzwald villages and a 5 km section of fast road.












Skirted Pforzheim, then sped past a photovoltaic site which must have been a couple of acres.

Called Bev just after Pforzheim; she was mostly packed, but working on Uni work she had to be free of before she flew away.

Then headed for Bretten on luckily a fast road with some nice agricultural sections.


















After Bretten I let the GPS plan a fast route to the overnight hotel.





Cloud was worsening during the last 100 km, so I kitted up again, and rain started about 20 km before the finish line.





Had to fill up before returning the bike, which put me in a maze of one-way strasses. Those cute little one-way narrow streets aren't so cute when they're gridlocked, it's grey and it's raining. But I got to the Hotel Ambrosius to drop off things before taking bike back to Tullius BMW.










All OK there, and they let me take the tank-bag home for $150. Hard to resist.
Called Lizzie as I was walking to the hotel. She and Rudi were just back from their trek, (Rudi is sick again) and still in Darjeeling, but flying to Delhi tomorrow in time to meet Bev's flight arriving at 10.10 PM.

Thought I'd landed in the sleazy end of Schierstein, from the smokers and the shouting, but very interesting architecture





and some attractive shops - got my first real coffee since Busca at the Eis Cafe Venezia, on the corner of my street. Shouted myself a gelato confection that was too big to finish, and I shouldn't have. Punished myself with a run around an offshoot of the Rhine, the yachting basin, (the bridge traverses the basin entrance)





which used to be a taxing haven and now houses some impressive yachts and powerboats, as well as rowers. Then, opposite the Venezia, a backhaus provided some pastries for later (the customer before me was French, about 25, who had to order in English because he had no German), and a small pizza was located a block away, for the healthy part of the meal. And to end the tale, another sort of European dream.

Location:Schierstein, Germany